Experimental study of antibiotic-induced immunosuppression in mice—I. Humoral and cell-mediated immune responsiveness related to in vivo antibiotic treatment

Abstract By using CBA/J mice as responders, the immunodepressive effect of seven antibacterial chemotherapeutic agents was tested, i.e. penicillin ( pen ), streptomycin ( str ), erythromycin ( erm ), kanamycin ( kan ), tetracycline ( tet ), colistin ( col ) and chloramphenicol ( chl ). Lymphocytotoxicity power, as well as the ability of each drug to influence secondary humoral (against sheep red blood cells or diphtheria anatoxin) or cell-mediated (against PPD and Coxsackie A 9 virus) immunity were searched. Erm, col and chl markedly depressed humoral and cell-mediated immune responsiveness in vitro after in vivo treatment with non-cytotoxical amounts. The Th lymphocyte supplementation of B reactive spleen cell population recovered the immune capacity in col and chl in vivo -treated groups, but not in erm -treated group.